For years, we've crammed books onto our bookshelves. We've enjoyed our big-screen TV. Our house was slowly getting a bit cluttered... Then, we bought a Blu Ray player. *sigh* This led, eventually, to getting a better TV (The old one has gone to a great home - our newly married son and his wife are delighted to have it, since they had a 19" used one). Better TV requires a stand or a wall mount system. Decided on a stand, as the Better TV would work great with a Surround Sound System (which we've "planned" on adding to our home theater for the past 10 years, but never got around to), and since the TV is a flat panel, we can change the location... ...which led to "hey, we can get two more bookcases into that space!" That idea turned into the complete revamping of our existing bookcases. Every single item had to come OFF the existing bookcases, be put somewhere while still leaving room to work and assemble new cases, and then be put back. Oh, and we got 140" of bookcases to fit in 137"... Without using a saw.
Wow! Nicely done, but that 3" had to go somewhere (oh no, no bad jokes, please). You must've omitted some of the old verticals? My DVD library of about 1,000 titles was overflowing onto tabletops & my house hasn't got room for any more bookcases, so I bought six 200-disc binders & got rid of 1,000 space-eating DVD cases (the local DVD rental place took most of them). All the case literature/cover paper/etc. lives cozily in a single cardboard file box (all that information & more is in the more easily accessible IMDB.COM). The whole kit occupies two shelves with plenty of room for additional titles without adding another cubic inch, and finding a particular DVD means leafing comfortably (and quickly)through binder pages instead of peering at a wall of DVD case edges. Still, in two decades (or less than that) physical media will be obsolete: our entire libraries of literature, film & music will either fit in our keyfobs or, more likely, be live-streamed from internet sources so we wouldn't even need the keyfob. The only exception will be printed books, which will endure only for their romantic/nostalgic quality. I can't wait; I'd like to have those two shelves back so I can put books on them.
Yes, we eliminated some uprights. Turned five bookcases into ONE bookcase! DVDs take less room than VHS. Blu Ray discs take less room than DVDs (it's the cases). We have B&N Nooks, so some of our books are looking for new homes. However, there is a vast library here that either is not available through the subscription service I use, or which the format does not lend itself to eBook. Making room to put the books we want to keep was one of our goals. I also should have mentioned the hours spent doing this, the trips to the hardware store, the office supply store, the hardware store, the HUGE hardware store, and the chaos. Did I mention the chaos? I just ordered 7 more DVDs / BDs to replace those titles that were on VHS.
Don't forget, I am a witch. Oh, and you should have seen the face of the kid loading the 6.5 foot boxes containing the bookcases into the Prius. He was convinced they wouldn't fit (we bought 3 of them)... until I shut the hatch. His eyes were, literally, as big as saucers.
I love doing that. Christmas trees, wheelbarrows, bicycles, construction materials, knock-down furniture...meanwhile, people with honkin' SUV's are struggling to tie their tree to the roof rack. See ya'. As for getting rid of stuff, I'm slowly becoming much better at it. I recently rearranged some shelving, too, along with a couple of display cabinets. The Prius models and swag are now two little glass shelves instead of one, but overall everything is much tidier. The local library got quite a few books, but some I will not part with. I'm happy to do without a newspaper and read the news online, but coffee table books and novels on a screen aren't quite the same.
At my age, I try to get rid of stuff not accumulate new or make room for more. However, whenever I go on a remodel tangent, it inevitably involves a piece of electronics of some type. BTW, I've been reading with an electronic reader for years. I threw out or donated hundreds and hundreds of books over the past few years in an effort to downsize, clean-up and clean-out book cases. I've been reading in this format for years. My reader is a Palm Tungsten 2e which I've had for 8 years. I do keep my Prius III owner's manual proudly displayed in the car's storage box. Sorry, got off on a tangent. Happy Motoring, Tom H
Looks great Rae... I will not be showing your pic to the frau... I do not need to do that... I am hopeful I don't get told something contrary to what I think... thus my reluctance to sharing your accomplishment with my frau, Sis...
It only LOOKS organized. I haven't even begun to arrange books by subject, or author... I did sorta put the tall ones together. Not a way to organize books, though. I have more. Once I get them all back on the shelves, the shelves will be pretty full. *sigh*
